Online printing presents an alternative to traditional paper publishing and provides many benefits. Specifically, traditional paper publishing requires adequate production facilities to produce the paper publications. Such publications may be newspapers, magazines, and the like. In other situations, companies that provide consumer services may print bills that are mailed on a monthly basis. For example, such bills might include utility bills, bank statements, credit card bills, or other periodic bills. The production facilities that are necessary to generate paper publications are typically operated at significant cost. In addition, delivery of the publications may also incur significant cost.
Online printing virtually eliminates production and delivery costs for paper publications. Specifically, publications may be posted as a web page on the Internet that is accessed by a user through a client device. For example, rather than mailing a monthly power bill to a customer, the utility company might simply post the bill on a web page that is then accessed by the user. The user may then print out the bill on a local printer and pay it accordingly.
Alternatively, automated online publishing systems such as instant-delivery.com™ by Hewlett Packard of San Jose, Calif. may independently access a bill or other content posted on a web page, format the content for printing, and then send the formatted bill to a client machine for printing without any action on the part of a user. However, a problem arises in that individuals usual desire a degree of privacy when it comes to online bills and the like. Specifically, users who access their bills or other publications online may be required to enter a password or overcome some other security hurdle. Automated online publishing systems lack the ability to navigate through such hurdles and, consequently, the protected content cannot be accessed and printed by such systems.